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Socorro ISD board votes to decline resolution to create daily prayer period under SB11

Socorro Independent School District Board of Trustees · February 19, 2026

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Summary

After discussion of implementation challenges and impacts on instructional time, the Socorro ISD board voted to deny a resolution that would require adoption of a daily prayer period consistent with Senate Bill 11; administration had recommended declining to establish the daily prayer time.

The Socorro Independent School District board voted on Feb. 18 to deny a resolution to create a designated daily prayer period under Senate Bill 11, after administration warned of implementation challenges and trustees expressed concerns about lost instructional time.

"The board needs to take actual action by record votes," legal counsel Steve Blankle said as he introduced the item and noted the March 1 deadline for action on the proposal. Assistant Superintendent Enrique Herrera summarized practical challenges for implementation across campuses and schedules and said administration's recommendation was to "stay consistent with our practices that we currently have and to decline to establish the daily prayer time."

Trustee discussion focused on procedural and instructional concerns. One trustee observed that establishing a single, districtwide prayer period "would take away from instructional time" and noted schedule differences across campuses.

President Najera moved to deny adopting the resolution; Trustee Rodriguez seconded. The board conducted a roll-call vote and the motion to deny passed. The meeting transcript records the motion as passed; the public record of individual roll-call votes was not detailed in the posted transcript excerpt.

The board did not adopt a policy to designate a daily prayer period at this meeting; administration will continue with the district's current practices.

Next steps: no policy will be implemented as a result of this meeting; the district noted the statutory deadline but followed administration's recommendation to decline the resolution.